The lifeboat which now goes out to help fishing boats at Whitby is the 44ft Waveney The White Rose of Yorkshire. The Waveney class lifeboat, introduced from the US Coast Guard in 1964, was the first of the RNLI's 'fast afloat' lifeboats and has a maximum speed of 15 knots. Her hull is steel, her superstructure aluminium and she has an inherent self-righting capability..